<p>@longhorn2014 A lot of what you have been told has been misconstrued and exaggerated. As a person who is actually an RA at the university, it hasnt dampered my social life whatsoever and has actually been a very fun, fulfilling experience.
For one, when youre on call you dont have to be stuck in your dorm room. You can go eat in the nearest dining hall and youre free to roam around the dorm but its true that you cant leave campus and you have to stay in the dorm when youre on duty. However, depending on how large your dorm is, you may only be on call once or twice a month (if youre in a larger dorm). Youre not on call all the time and if youre in a larger dorm such as Jester, you may have times where youre not on call for about 2-3 weeks! It really just depends on scheduling.</p>
<p>Working the desk isnt bad either. Its fun to help people out when they have questions. Desk shifts are anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on the time of day and if its a weekend. Weekend desk shifts tend to be longer (5-6 hours), while weekday shifts are around 3-4 hours long. Also, you only work the desk at a designated time once a week. For instance, you may work the desk every Tuesday from 8-11 AM and thats it. Weekend desk shifts rotate amongst the entire staff, and depending on how large your staff is, you may only get 2-3 weekend desk shifts a semester. Also, weekend desk shifts only apply to a certain day at a certain time (like Saturday from 1-6 PM). Oh, and you never work 3 AM desk shifts. The desk shifts range from 8 AM to 12 midnight. They have night shift workers (separate from RAs) who work the late hours.</p>
<p>In regards to time off, you are allotted one weekend a month to request off. Basically, this means that if you want to go home or away for a weekend, you need to request it off. This doesnt mean that you cant hang out with your friends and do things in Austin all the other weekends. It really only applies when youre leaving Austin, THATS when you need to request time off. As for working during Thanksgiving or Spring Break, you have to work during one of the two. If youre working SB, you only work the first or the second half, not the entire break itself.</p>
<p>RA programming can be loads of fun, especially if youre joint programming with other members of your staff. The turnout you get for programs really all depends on what day it is, what time it is, and if something else is going on at the same time (like an important bball game or something). You learn not to get your feelings hurt if no one shows up to a program youve organized. Sometimes you get really good turnouts and sometimes you dont, thats just the breaks.</p>
<p>Lastly, RAs arent just some robots that dont care about anything else but their jobs and staying in the dorms. RAs are normal students that like to go out and have fun just like everyone else, we just have more responsibilities to balance at the same time (which is TOTALLY doable). It looks great on your resume, you get to meet and bond with a lot of cool people, and make an impact on peoples lives and serve as a mentor. Believe it or not, there are people whove actually been positively impacted by their RAs. You get free housing and food (if youre living by yourself, you pay the $2600 difference and thats it) and you actually get a stipend every month. Its been a rewarding experience for me so far and I have a very active social life on top of it. Of course, it has some cons, like cleaning up vomit and other bodily fluids if you ever encounter that, and being woken up in the middle of the night if something bad happens that you have to go see about (which hasnt happened to me that much at all). I DEFINITELY recommend that you give it a fair chance :)</p>
<p>P.S. When you get to campus, you should ask some RAs how they feel about the job and do some research about it so that you can make an educated decision that works for you!</p>
<p>P.P.S. Sorry for the SUPER long post, just thought I’d clear some things up :)</p>